What Ever Happened to Diaspora?

Whatever happened to Diaspora, the Facebook killer which was announced in 2010? It was supposed to be the open source social network which let you own your data and privacy, but it's two years on and Diaspora has dissipated. Vice.com takes an in-depth look at what happened to the project, which ended in failure and the death of one of its founders.

Beyond the difficulty of actually executing a project of this scope and magnitude, the team of four young kids with little real-world programming experience found themselves crushed under the weight of expectation. Even before they had tried to produce an actual product, bloggers, technologists and open-source geeks everywhere were already looking to them to save the world from tyranny and oppression. Not surprisingly, the first release, on September 15, 2010 was a public disaster, mainly for its bugs and security holes. Former fans mockingly dismissed it as “swiss cheese.”